Mark Kotsay singled to start the bottom of the eighth. It was only the second hit for the Red Sox to that point; Jacoby Ellsbury had singled in the fifth. After two foul attempts, Nick Green bunted pinch-runner Bates to second. J.D. Drew struck out for the second out. On a 0-1 pitch to Pedroia, Bannister uncorked a wild pitch, and Bates took third. FY hammered the next offering off the Monster and Boston led 1-0.

In the ninth, Jonathan Papelbon was on his game, firing fastballs at 95-97, and needing only 11 pitches to retire the Royals' 3-4-5 hitters.

Lester worked out of a few jams. He had a runner at second with no outs in the second, but struck out Miguel Olivo, got Alberto Callaspo to fly to right and fanned Ryan freel. He stranded mark teahen at second after a two-out double in the fourth.

An infield error and Teahen's third hit of the night put Royals at first and second to begin the seventh. Olivo flied out to deep center. Rocco Baldelli (in for Ellsbury who was ejected on a play at the plate in the fifth) caught the ball and fired a one-hopper to second that nailed Teahen trying to advance to second. Jose Gullen tagged and took third, but there were now two outs. John Buck grounded harmlessly to third.

Well, it requires some leniency, but there was a minor league player called Bloodsaw. I think that if you allow blood as a beverage (for some...), and saw as sow, then it would count for beverage+animal, too.

Amy--I agree, but English has borrowed the Yiddish and now they sit in our common storehouse of insults and derogations, waiting for a Philip Roth or whoever who knows how to get them to do tricks on the page.

Ofer, you don't find kike or wop or the N-word (I can't even type it) offensive?

In the sense that I would be offended by somebody using them, no. And if I know somebody's on my same wavelength and understands who I am, I fucking love racist jokes. The same way I love pedophilia, dead baby and holocaust jokes. So no, I don't find them offensive.

I would probably never use them to describe somebody, outside of a joke.

I find all those terms offensive, and I generally find that they are not used by my peers, in jest or otherwise. Like I said, maybe it's a generational thing?

I think it's a US thing. Most people in Israel have a very dark sense of humour, and not too much sensitivity. Some would call it directness, some coarseness, some vulgarity. I guess they're all right, in a way.

Yeah, I have experienced some of that Israeli "directness." It can be quite off-putting to American ears and sensitivities. :)

Yeah, the Orange County Jewish kids that hosted me and a group from my school 7 years ago did NOT enjoy all our 9/11 jokes. Not to mention the various bombings/holocaust ones. But at the same time, some of them couldn't get enough. It was fascinating to them, that people could actually say things like that. It was very amusing.

The game was amazing. There were 3 7th inning stretches, at 7, 14 and 21. In the 17th inning, the Expos thought they won and were jumping around celebrating on the "field" - only to have a hit ruled foul and the teams were called back to continue play.

After about the 15th inning, anyone was still there stayed til the end. Everyone moved up into better seats. :)